OUR BABIES
IB* Hxcm.l Published under the nu«pic#i of th» Boynl New Zealand Society for tlw Health of Women and Ohlldretf. "It tg wi«er to put up a fence at the top of n preolplce .than to maintain aa *mbul#nco at tho bottom." INFANTILE SCURVY. Though scurvy has long been recognised as the great scourge o'f people deprived of proper supplies of fresh food, it was not until 40 yeirn ago that scurvy was recognised as liable to take place in arti-ficially-fed babies. This fact was ilrstnoticed by Dr. (now Sir Thomas) - Barlow. This was one of the most important of recent 'discoveries in medical science, and infantile scurvy is known all over tho world to-day as Barlow's Disease. The causation was traced mainly to o growing increase in artificial feeding with milk and foodstulls which had been subjected to the process of sterilising; any bucli food was found to be unsafe in this connection. A soon as the nature of the disease was recr»:iiißed, the one class of remedy known to prove effective in cases .of scurvy in adults—viz., fresh fruit juice, was tried; and it proved equally effective. Nothing is more striking than the rapid recovery which tends to take place when fresh fruit or vegetables are given. for many years infantile scurvy was commonly referred to as scurvy-rickets; hut is now recognised as essentially different from rickets both in Its nature and causation, though the two diseases may be associated. Advanced forms of either riokcts or scurvy are comparatively rare in Australia or New Zealand, and this has led to a common opinion that these diseases are of little practical importance in the colonies. Quito the reverse is true. In tho case of rickets, lorn? before there is any appreciable softening or bending of the bones, the nutrition, growth, and constitution of the child may be gravoly prejudiced by incipiont riokcts which nover manifests itself in a clearly recognisable form, and the same may be said with • regard to Barlow's disease. 1 Authorities both in Australia and New Zealand have drawn attention to slight rickets in infancy as a cause among other things of retardation and backwardness in children of the school age, and military doctors have mentioned the same point as a factor which has played its part in' causing rejection for military service. Hitherto, short of actual manifest scurvy (which is a, much rarer condition than rickets) little or nothing has been said or suspected as to the insidious harm which may be done to the system by latent 'scurvy. In the last few yearS, however, Dr. Jlcss, of New York, has drawn marked attention to tho frequent oourrenco of slight manifestations of scurvy due to the prolonged use of pasteurised milk or other forms of artificial, moro or less impaired, food during infancy, without the proper safeguard of fresh fruit, or vegetable juice. Still more significant and of more universal public importance aro the experiments which have been made during the last two years by Major Wells, a Canadian dental authority as to the effect on the growth and development of the teeth that may result from the use of food lacking tho fresh -anti-scurry properties present In mother's milk, and fresh cow's milk anrj specially abundant in the jniccs of certain fruits and vegetables.
Experimenting on guinea pigs and monkcya Major Wells has found that, when fed on foods lacking the vital dements characteristic of fresh animal and vegetable products, the pulp cavities of the teeth are liable to show every degree of degeneration and breaking .down. This occurs long before there are any signs whatever that would cause scurvy to be suspected—such sighs and symptoms, /for instance,' as- swollen, spongy, , bleeding gums, loosening of the teetlij bono /'and joint pains, etc. .Mother's milk is the great protective against both scurvy and rickets, but the best pre-natal conditions for the child and the best quality of mother's milk can only be attained' by proper active '•"bits on the mother's part, and by her heing supplied with suitable food, including ' a reasonable • quantity of fresh fruit end vegetables, of which a considerablo proportion should be taken in the raw state.
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Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 139, 8 March 1920, Page 5
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696OUR BABIES Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 139, 8 March 1920, Page 5
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